Dr. Hannuun Yaacob currently holds the position of a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Decision Science within the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Malaya. She earned her Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Sheffield, UK. Her primary research interests encompass Bayesian statistics and biostatistics. In her previous research project, she focused on statistical genetics, where she developed a Bayesian statistical model to identify potential causal genes for breast cancer. Presently, her research revolves around preference-based measures and health-related quality of life, with a keen interest in the application of statistics in social science research. Dr. Hannuun's work effectively bridges the gap between statistical analysis and the human experience, significantly contributing to our understanding of preferences, aspirations, and the tools used for measurement. An enthusiastic user of the R software, she has also served as a guest speaker at the R conference in 2022 and continues to primarily employ R software in both her research and teaching endeavors. Beyond her academic pursuits, Dr. Hannuun finds solace in reading and traveling, embracing a balanced and holistic life. Her unwavering dedication to advancing social science research serves as an inspiration to emerging scholars in the field, leaving an indelible mark on the academic community.

Claire currently teaches epidemiology, research methodology and biostatistics to both undergraduates and postgraduate students at the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. Claire has focused considerable energy on violence, older persons' health, adolescent health, and reproductive and sexual health research. Her research interests include the international public health burden of violence especially on older people, women and children; investigating the linkages between violence and mental health; the development and evaluation of interventions to address violence; research on victimization via ICT and exposure to social media such as cyberbullying, sexual and physical victimization; and the application of mixed methodology in public health research.  She is part of the University of Malaya Grand Challenge Programme; Preventing Elder Abuse and Neglect Initiative (PEACE). Her projects include determining the magnitude and social determinants of elder abuse (EAN) among community and institutionalized older adults; examine effects of educational intervention on management of EAN among healthcare providers; review effectiveness of interventions on EAN; the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on health and well-being of older persons, and examine the effectiveness of social isolation and loneliness interventions on health outcomes.  Since 2021, Claire is a core team member of the WHO Abuse of Older People Intervention Accelerator Initiative, an international research-practice network that aims to speed up development and evaluation of effective interventions. Claire was previously appointed as a consultant and researcher by the National Population and Family Development Board, World Health Organization and UNICEF. She is also a member for the International Network for the Prevention for Elder abuse and International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. Claire assessed grants for the UK National Institute for Health Research Global Health Programme, Fundamental Research Grant Scheme and the Postgraduate Research Fund. Claire is an associate editor for Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health. She has published over a hundred ISI papers including in Nature Aging, Campbell Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Systematic Reviews, Journal of Adolescent Health, Child Abuse and Neglect, Child Abuse Review, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Trauma, Abuse and Violence Journal, Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect among others. She also co-authoured several books and book chapters including Statistical Analysis Using SPSS 3rd Edition, Age-ing Peacefully and Guide for Caring of Older Adults. Claire has also previously an invited speaker and conducted several workshops/courses such as Research Methodology, Data analysis using SPSS, Train the trainers for CE-EBM, and Evidence Based Medicine. 

Started his research career in the think tank sector, Dr. Lee Chee Leong (Karl) is attracted to the rise of non-traditional diplomacy in the international order today. Such appeal has taken Dr. Lee into new research horizons that started with his Monash University's doctoral research on the Chinese sub-state diplomacy in China-ASEAN economic cooperation. With constructive supervision by Professor Helen Nesadurai and Associate Professor Kuik Cheng Chwee, Dr. Lee completed his doctoral thesis that unravels how a faraway and least developed sub-state of Guangxi managed to overcome its own hurdles, navigate the complexities within the Chinese state and become the frontline actor in China-ASEAN economic cooperation. Following his doctoral completion, Dr. Lee's research on non-traditional diplomacy has expanded into Taiwan’s quasi-state diplomacy in Southeast Asia. Such quest has led him spending at great length in comprehending the concept of soft power, a concept that finds its relevance to Taiwan, which has no official diplomatic with Southeast Asia but is heavily connected to the region and has to rely on soft power in its engagements with these Southeast Asian nations. Taking Malaysia as the first case study of Taiwan's soft power in the region, Dr. Lee is developing the third intervening variable correlating both Taiwanese soft power resources and outcomes, in his course of providing a dynamical explanation for such phenomenon. For the coming years, his research focus and publications will be on the different areas featuring Taiwan-Malaysia and Taiwan-Southeast Asia cooperation such as digital social innovation (DSI) for climate change, industry-based education/training programmes, smart cities, tourism, digital democracy, agriculture, public health and medicine, ornamental aquaculture and aquascape. To date, Dr. Lee was the recipient of several scholarships and fellowships in Malaysia and overseas: University of Malaya’s Graduate Fellowship (2010-2011); Monash University’s Merit Scholarship (2016-2019); Chinese Government Scholarship (2018-2019); and Taiwan Fellowship (2020). Prior to his appointment as Senior Lecturer at the Institute of China Studies (ICS), he was the Visiting Scholar at Guangxi University for Nationalities (GXUN) (2018-10992019), Taiwan Fellow at National Chengchi University (NCCU) (2020) and Associate Fellow at ICS UM (2016-2019).He welcomes any potential PhD candidate who would like to work on Taiwan-Southeast Asia relations, Taiwan's soft power in Southeast Asia and Taiwan-Malaysia DSI cooperation for climate change. He is also willing to discuss with potential doctoral candidates on proposals related to the Chinese sub-state (provincial) diplomacy toward ASEAN, China's soft power in ASEAN, Southeast Asian sub-state diplomacy, comparative cases of sub-state diplomacy around the world and conceptual innovation of sub-state diplomacy as well as soft power.